Kell and Rigby Builders

Kell and Rigby started as a partnership in June 1910 between two young carpenters, William James Kell aged 26 years and Alexander Leslie Rigby aged 22 years, both having arrived independently from England. The business kept both partners very busy, yet both made their contribution to the community, Bill Kell took an active interest in local politics, served on the Board of All Saints College Bathurst and on several Boards of companies needing consultation on building matters. Les Rigby’s interest was in Rotary in which he became a District Governor and also served on the Boards of Western Suburbs Hospital and the Crippled Children’s Society. He was also a Committee member of Concord Golf Club.

The original office was at 1 Elsie Street Burwood where Bill Kell boarded with his Aunt Beckie Freeman. It was Aunt Beckie who also tendered the phone when the partners were out on the sites. In 1912 land was purchased in Bishop Street near Park Road (now Railway Crescent) Burwood. A workshop and office was built and with the £200 capital each subscribed K. & R. commenced growing. Initially domestic work was carried out, but more and more commercial and industrial work was undertaken.

Houses built locally were in Llandilo Avenue, Torrington Road, Strathfield Avenue, Kingsland Road, Victoria Street and Wakeford Road. There were others, but the writer can not find records of them.

Between 1910 and 1920 horsepower was the motive force for transport, buggies, horse drawn lorries, horse powered hoists and horse drawn jinkers for long heavy loads like structural steel and long timber. In 1920 the first lorry was bought for £350, a 3-ton Ford, and it was only after this had been tested out for two months that the remaining two horses , lorry and harness , were sold for £ 100. Scaffolds in those days were round poles, lashed together with rope. Wheel barrows had steel tyres, not pneumatic tyres of today. This made wheeling concrete or bricks etc. just that much more difficult, Cranes were changing from steam powered to electric, There were no small electric tools that we have today, it was all manpower. Men worked a 44 hour week, with none of the special rates we have today, Trenches and piers were dug with pick and shovel, only the very big jobs had any mechanical earth-moving gear, but horse drawn scoops were in use well into the l930’s on big earthmoving sites. As business increased, more and more land was purchased in Railway Crescent and George Street West and the workshop was extended.

Then in 1947 , Guy Faulks’ night, the workshop and offices were burnt down. The timber was so tightly stacked that only the outside and loose ends were scorched and burned. The buildings, machines and the joiners’ tools and benches were destroyed. Twelve months later a bigger and better workshop and office was completed and the temporary office in one of the timber stores was vacated and the joiners who had been working in George Hudson’s workshop at Glebe returned to Burwood, In those days, so very soon after the war, materials and machinery were in short supply, but machinery from Wadkins in England arrived in time. For many years after, records of that time were generally singed on the outside edges, but they were still readable, which was remarkable.

In addition to the private homes already listed, the following records some of the buildings erected and added to in this period and still standing today:

1914

• Infants Home , Ashfield Nurses’ Home. Work for the Bank of NSW, now Westpac, commenced and has continued.

An amusing record is that in 1916 it is recorded — “Sold a mare for £5 and another for £10.” Depreciation for horses for taxation purposes was 10% per year. Depreciation for trucks today is 15%. Branches were established at Orange, Albury and Canberra. The Albury one was closed after about 10 years.

In 1984, K&R moved to new premises at No. 8 Dunlop Street Strathfield South after selling the Burwood property to the Commonwealth Bank. However these changes also created other changes in management, as the two sons of William Kell, Alan and Bruce, agreed to a split and Bruce retired from the business while Alex Rigby also decided to retire and Alan became the sole descendant of that generation to continue the business. Subsequent generations through Robert are heavily involved to the present day.

In 1986 additions to the Office and Joinery Shop were necessary to cope with the extra work won for the fitout of the Senate and House of Representatives of the new Parliament House Canberra. This and other work at Parliament House would be the most prestigious work K&R have ever been associated with. The strength of K&R is in its staff; some have been with the firm all their working lives, they are essentially practical builders , almost without exception the top people are tradesmen. In the 82 years the firm has had its ups and downs, in the good years money is re-invested in the company to form a cushion for the inevitable downturn. We have faith in the future.

Secretary -Lucy Stone notes: You may remember at the Annual General Meeting in 1991, the then Mayor of Strathfield, Alderman Robert Kell, suggested we might record the history of our local industry Kell & Rigby (Builders) Pty. Ltd. The Secretary approached Mr. Alan Kell and he has obliged us with the following outline of the success of that firm. Incidentally, Alan has committed himself to writing the complete history in book form. We thank both Alan and Robert for their interest in our activities.

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Once I was a pen-friend to Robert B Kell who lived in Wakeford Rd. 14 (if I remember right!), Sydney. It was in the 1967 about. He asked me to move to Australia from Finland which is my homecountry, he also told me to come to visit Finland (he had just had his 21 yrs-day) but at the same time I had met a Finnish guy. So I told to Rob that it is over now, I´m going to get married with this Finnish guy.

Quite soon I found that I had made an awful mistake and our engagement ended very soon.

During these decades I have sometimes wondered how is Rob´s life now?
I live in Spain, in the island of Tenerife nowadays and I´m getting old…

The name Kell n Rigby featured largely in our family as my father worked for many years with this wonderful company. My dad’s name was Raymond Noake and he was a foreman for many years and worked on many impressive sites.